Rest
by MagicInHerMadness
Summary: Rick and Michonne find themselves sharing a bed shortly after entering ASZ. Richonne and Grimes Family 2.0 fluff. No Jessie. Rated M for forthcoming smutty sequel.
**A/N: Hi! So I'm obsessed with the idea of Domestic!Richonne. I can't help myself. My babies and their babies deserve some family moments. This is my attempt at one. It's set after the group shows up ASZ. There's no Supercuts though.**

Michonne stood in the doorway of Rick's bedroom, watching as he attempted to make his new bed. She could clearly see that he was attempting to put his fitted sheet on the wrong way, but she stopped herself from helping immediately because there was something incredibly endearing about watching him struggle.

"Stop smirking at me," he said, startling her.

Michonne's expression didn't change as she entered the room. She walked over to the bed and took the sheet from him, turning it the right way. Together, they made the bed, although Michonne did most of the work getting the fitted sheet on the mattress then laying out the flat sheet and tucking its corners under the mattress. When Rick placed the newly encased pillows at the head of the bed, Michonne unzipped her vest and took it off, tossing it onto a nearby chair before she climbed onto the bed and lay back on the crisp sheets. She let out a content sigh. "I can't remember the last time I had an actual bed."

"Well this one isn't yours, so don't get comfortable." Rick smirked as he lay beside her. He too let out a sigh of contentment, acutely aware of their heads resting on the same pillow.

Michonne didn't immediately answer, instead yawning as she sunk into the bed's softness. "You asked me to be your roommate so that's what I'm doing."

"You're a roommate with your own room, bed too," he replied, folding his right arm behind his head and crossing his legs.

"Are you kicking me out?" She sat up to lean on her elbow, facing him, her eyebrows raised.

Rick smiled as he shook his head. "Just yanking your chain."

Michonne snorted as she resumed lying beside him, rapping her knuckles against his hip. "Why don't you do something more productive, like taking care of that bush eating half your face?"

"Maybe later," he yawned, his eyelids suddenly heavy. He rolled on his side to face her. "Do you really think this place is okay?"

"I don't know, but it's better than what we left behind."

Their eyes locked and he trusted the certainty in hers. It was a better place than the prison. They had a house, and a yard. There were trees and flowers, and neighbors. Rick could see his family not only surviving, but flourishing there. He nodded and she gave the faintest glimmer of a smile—barely a change in her expression, but a second he cherished because she rarely ever smiled except at Carl or Judith—then yawned.

The settled into a content silence, sounds of the community floating in with a warm breeze through the window above the bed, and it didn't take long for them to drift off into their first peaceful sleep in months. Carol knocked a while later but neither of them awoke and when she saw them, she paused. Rick lay on his back, his right arm around Michonne as she lay on her side her head on his shoulder. Michonne stirred a little and Carol took a half-step back, prepared to leave or at least re-enter the room as if she hadn't been watching them, but she settled again, Rick's arm flexing to pull her closer. Carol turned and left, headed back downstairs.

It was dinnertime when Carl ventured into his father's room. He had made it to his father's bedside before it occurred to him that he should have been surprised at finding him and Michonne asleep together.

"Dad, Michonne," he called, giving the bed a nudge with his knee, watching as they stretched awake to peer sleepily at him. "It's time for dinner. Carol made stew."

"'Kay," Rick mumbled, clearly not fully awake as he shifted beside Michonne, glancing down at her waking form as she rubbed her eyes.

Carl looked at them a bit longer, willing himself to be surprised or reviled by the sight, but nothing of the sort happened. He was more surprised that he'd never seen them asleep together before and wondered how often it occurred. "Y'all better hurry. Everyone's here."

He left the room, leaving the door slightly cracked so that anyone else who approached would know to knock. Michonne yawned as she rolled onto her back, Rick's arm still around her. "Smells good."

"Mmhmm," Rick replied, wishing they could have slept a little longer. He didn't move as Michonne sat up on her knees to get off the bed.

She paused, half-straddling him, and looked down at his sleepy face. "You okay?"

He knew immediately what she was asking and nodded. "Yeah. Just rested for once."

She knew immediately what he meant and nodded too. "Me too."

She climbed off the bed and shuffled into his bathroom, and a moment later he heard the faucet running. She called, "Come wash your hands."

"'Kay," he replied as he rolled off the bed.

In the bathroom, they shared the faucet's warm water, not looking at each other in the dirty mirror. Rick watched her meticulously scrub her delicately-boned hands, glancing inconspicuously at her face. She looked as rested as he felt, the seemingly permanent tension gone from her face.

"You snore," he teased quietly.

Michonne paused her washing to sneer at him. "I do _not_. You were hearing yourself."

"Was not."

"Were too."

"Was not."

"Were too."

Rick rolled his eyes, knowing he wouldn't win a battle of wills against her. "If you say so, Michonne."

"I certainly do." She finished washing her hands then flicked water on his face, laughing when he flinched.

Rick laughed as he wiped his face. "I'll get my revenge for that."

"I wouldn't plan on it."

He thought for a moment. "I think I'll keep my beard a little while longer. Maybe another week."

Michonne shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It's not on my face."

"We'll see about that." He gave her a flirtatious smile then left the bathroom, confident she was watching him walk away. Michonne quickly shifted her eyes from the way his belt hung on his hips when he looked back at her before leaving the bedroom.

The living room was packed with their group, all happily eating stew and toast. Rick smiled at Carol chattering excitedly about how Alexandria's pantry had flour and beef.

Daryl looked up from his bowl, smirking at his friends. "Where y'all been? Ain't seen you since we went to settle in."

"We made the bed and fell asleep. Been a long day," Rick answered, walking over to where Carl sat at the table with Judith balanced on his knee. He smiled as he picked her up, a piece of toast in her mouth. "Is that good?"

She took the toast from her mouth and babbled a reply, attempting to share it with him.

"She ate some stew too," Carl said.

Rick kissed the crown of her golden head as he took a seat on the floor near the table. "Good girl, ladybug."

Michonne appeared at his side with two bowls of stew. Rick took one, giving a nod and a secret smile as his thanks. Michonne sat beside him. She began eating, seemingly not as aware of—or at least not as flustered by—their hips touching as Rick. Judith gurgled, her chubby fingers attempting to get into the bowl that Rick held out of her reach. Michonne smile as she dipped Judith's toast in her stew's broth then gave it back. Judith sucked the soaked corner of bread then turned her attention to Michonne's bowl, attempting to reach into it. Michonne pulled it away from her tiny groping hand and shook her head. "No, no. That's hot. _Hot_."

Judith wasn't old enough to understand Michonne's words but Rick noted the maternal nature of her tone and Judith's obedience when Michonne pushed her hand away. He smiled as she held her mouth open for more stew, dipping his spoon into his bowl to feed her more broth. She sat between them, greedily waiting for food from each bowl. Carl smiled as he watching, thinking he'd kept his promise to his mother all those months before, and that he hadn't even known he was doing it when he told his father that Michonne was one of them.

xXx

Later that night, Rick found himself walking around the large house. He could hear Daryl snoring softly as he slept on Carol's bedroom floor, and a peek in Carl's room showed him his son turning over, an open comic book falling off his chest when he moved. He went to Judith's room and found her awake, sitting up in her crib and staring at the open door as if willing someone to come in.

"What's the matter, ladybug?" he asked but soon learned when he lifted her from the crib and found her diaper full. After changing her, he went to the kitchen to mix a bottle of formula. He added a pinch of sugar, a grocery item he would have to get used to having thanks to the safe zone's surprisingly well-stocked food pantry. "Now don't you tell Michonne I gave you this. She'll have my hide for messing with your schedule, and even worse for the sugar."

Judith babbled a reply as she took her bottle. She finished the formula as Rick walked around the kitchen, bouncing her gently. He put her bottle in the sink and continued their walk, going softly down the hall and humming softly as he patted her back. He was surprised when Michonne's door opened and her head poked out. "What's wrong?"

"Me and Judy couldn't sleep," he replied.

Judith raised her head and looked at Michonne then reached for her. Michonne smiled as she took her. "Hi sleepy girl. What are you doing up?"

"Probably too quiet. It's keeping me up," Rick answered, subtly looking her over in her pajamas, a large gray nightshirt. "Can't even hear crickets around here."

"Me too. I never thought I'd find walker moans comforting." She stepped back into her room, allowing him in. "Quiet's got me prickly as hell."

Rick nodded, watching as she shifted Judith in her arms, cradling her. She slightly bent the little girl's knees and hugged her body into a ball. "The closer they get to the fetal position, the sleepier it makes them."

Rick nodded, watching in the darkness as Judith's eyes began to flutter as Michonne rocked her and patted her back. It wasn't long before she drifted off. Michonne sat down on her bed and looked at him. "You wanna stay in here tonight?"

He gave a slight shake of his head. "Don't wanna put you out."

"I put you out earlier," she replied as she lay back on the bed, shifting Judith so the baby lay on her chest. Rick gently lay beside her, shifting so she could relax into the curve of his body. They had almost fallen asleep when there was a soft knock at the door. A moment later, Carl entered.

"Can't sleep. Too quiet," he half-yawned as he walked over to the bed, dragging along his pillow and blanket. He sleepily took note of Rick and Michonne sharing another bed, Judith nestled between them, and decided he would ask Michonne about their sleepovers the next morning. Rick smiled sleepily as he watched his son make a palette on the floor. Soon the teen's quiet snores could be heard in tandem with the baby's. Rick snuck a glance at Michonne and found her teeth peeking at him in the darkness as she sneered.

"Hear that? Tell me again how it was me snoring when I've got genetic proof that it was you," she said.

Rick bumped her knee with his. "Why don't you just go to sleep?"

"I'll try. Can't imagine much success with all three of you in here snoring up a storm."

Rick only smiled, rolling onto his side so he could watch her eyes flutter closed.

 **A/N: Don't forget to review! XOXOXOXO**


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